Once Upon a Fire
by BluGrrl123
Summary: Booth and Bones investigate a murder that claimed the lives of an entire family, except a sixteen-year old girl named Kate, who seems undisturbed by her family's brutal murder. Is this young girl innocent, or does she know more then she's letting on?


Disclaimer: I don't own Bones or anything to do with it except for Kate. She's mine. And, of course, the murders themselves but whatever.

A/N: This story takes place before Zach became Gormagon's apprentice and was sent away.

"Hey, Bones!" said Agent Seeley Booth, "We've got a lot of bodies waiting to be examined by the famous Temperance Brennan." Temperance looked up from her work.

"How many bodies is a lot?" she asked, getting up to follow him. He didn't say anything and they walked to their car.

After a long drive, they stopped in front of a big white house. Two pillars stood guard in front of the front door, which was very tall and also white. The lawn was a healthy green and, judging from the smell, freshly mown. Booth and Brennan stepped out of the car and walked into the house. A tall FBI agent was waiting and brought them through a door on the right to a room that had obviously just been burned.

"Is just _this_ room burnt?" Brennan asked. The agent nodded. Brennan pulled out her gloves and began to examine the corpses.

"How did the whole house not burn down?" Booth asked.

"The walls are made with a fireproof metal. But that's not the main issue here. The issue is that this is a family of five, but there are only four bodies." Said Dr. Goodman as he walked into the room.

"There's still someone else." Booth finished for him. Brennan looked up from the first body to glance at Booth.

"What does that mean for me?" she asked.

"That means, Bones, that you need to identify the remains now so that we will know who's missing." Booth answered.

"But it will take days to get the bones cleaned and then Ang. might take a while to get the faces drawn. I can't do that _now_." Brennan argued.

"Just tell us the approximate age and sex. We will do the rest." Dr. Goodman cut in. Brennan nodded and returned to the first body.

"This one's female. Late 40's- early 50's." she said, then continued on.

"That's the mother, Ellen Swanson," Said Goodman, checking off a name on the list.

"Male. He's around the same age as the other victim."

"The father, Nick Swanson."

"Male. Early 20's."

"Eldest son, Will Swanson."

"Male. He's extremely tall but he looks like he's still a teenager." Brennan finished.

"That's Dean. So we're missing the youngest. Her name is Kate Swanson. She is sixteen years old. Here is the most recent picture. If she's in hiding we'll still be able to find her. Look at the eyes." Dr. Goodman reported, handing a picture to Booth. Booth looked at the picture and knew what Goodman was talking about. She seemed like an ordinarily pretty girl. She had long, brown hair that fell in ringlets upon her shoulders. She had a perfect smile and beautiful blue eyes. But then he noticed a flash of green shooting out from he pupils to blend with the blue.

"So she could still be alive? Please God let her be alive." Booth prayed.

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"So this girl could still be out there?" Angela asked. Booth nodded. "But she could be hurt! Is the FBI looking for her?" Yet again, Booth nodded.

"However Dr. Goodman said that she was a spirited kid. She might have been at a party or on vacation with some friends. She might be unharmed, but she's still not safe. So we're looking for her." Booth said.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt, but I thought you should see this." Hodgins said. Both Booth and Angela followed him to Brennan's office where she was watching the news.

"Mrs. Farmer, the drama teacher, found Kate Swanson lying motionless in the theatre at Jefferson High just half an hour ago. Based off of the information that her family was found dead in their own home we are waiting to check if she's alive for the people who are investigating their murders. Now Kate-" the reporter on the screen was cut off by Brennan turning off the TV. Then she turned to face Booth.

"Well, are we going?" she asked.

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Once in the theatre, Booth ran to Kate's still form. He checked her pulse.

"She's alive." He said, relieved. At that moment she began to move. Zach, who had come with the pair, gasped when she opened her eyes. He had never seen eyes like them before. No one else had either. They were baby blue with a blast of green from the pupils but, neither the picture nor Dr. Goodman had told them about the faint gold ring around the pupil that the green stemmed from. She blinked.

"W…where am I?" she asked.

"Your school theatre," Booth said, "Do you know how you could have gotten here?" She shook her head.

"I was at a party… Now I'm here."

"A party?" Booth questioned, "Who's? Where? When?"

"Allison's. Her house. 10:30pm. July 4th."

"It's August. Is Allison a friend? What's her address?"

"She's my best friend. She lives at 108 Randall Ct. And it's August? Is my mom worried?"

"Not exact-"

"She's dead." Brennan cut in. Booth glared at her.

"Oh…. Ok." Kate said calmly.

"You're not upset at all?" Booth asked, shocked. Kate shook her head again.

"My mom never supported me in anything. She thought I should be a robot just like Dean. How's dad taking it?" she inquired.

"He's dead too. In fact your whole family is dead." Brennan informed. Kate smiled and lay back down, tired.

"Ah. Freedom. How'd it happen?"

"Burned. We think while they were still alive."

"Who by?"

"We don't know." Kate sat up.

"So I guess I'm a suspect now. Am I right?"

"Yes." Booth said. Kate nodded and fell asleep. At that moment an ambulance arrived to pick her up. Booth, Brennan and Zach left Kate to the paramedics.

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"She was _happy_?" Cam asked Booth as he told her about what happened. He nodded. Cam shook her head and continued to examine the mother's corpse for flesh, "That's one messed up kid."

"Or four messed up people." Booth added.

"You've been hanging around Brennan too much Seeley." Cam teased.

"We found cause of death." Zach said quickly, interrupting Booth's reply. "Can I check to see if this victim died the same way?" Cam glanced at the corpse.

"There's no skin. Go ahead." She said. Zach began to examine the bones.

"Yes. It's here too. I was looking at the bones before we got them cleaned and I realized that there was a hole in every sternum. It's here too." He informed, "Also, look at the humorous bones. There is a bit of strain on them. You can see it through all the blood. That strain can only come from the body being dragged somewhere."

"So they were all killed in different rooms, dragged to the living room then burned." Booth summarized.

"There were four killers?" Cam asked.

"No. Not unless four different people can shoot someone in the exact same spot as the others. It was one person. And the person knew how to shoot a gun. Where's Bones? She'll want me to fill her in." Booth said.

"In the hospital with Kate," Zach answered. Booth got into his car and drove to the hospital.

Once in Kate's room Booth said, "Bones, it was one killer. Kate, I'm going to have to ask you a couple of questions."

"Go ahead."

"Have you ever shot a gun?"

"Um," Kate thought about it, "No. I don't think I have."

"Ever seen a real one?"

"No."

"Hold out your dominant arm as steady as possible," Booth ordered. Kate obliged and Booth noticed her arm was trembling, "It wasn't you."

"I knew it. That nurse said you can leave whenever you want right? Well how would you like to stay with me until we solve this case?" Brennan offered.

"I'd love to!." Kate said, excitedly.

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"So the gun is a shot-gun?" Brennan asked in the car. She had just snuck out of her house while Kate slept on the couch after getting a call from Booth on her cell.

"Yes, and the only shop that sells that kind of gun in this state is the Gunneria. What kind of name is that? Sounds like Gonorrhea," Booth laughed.

"Gonorrhea is not a laughing matter!" Brennan said, indignantly.

"I know it's a sexually transmitted disease. Blahblahblah. I gotcha." Booth cut in before she could lecture him. Instead of retorting, Brennan smiled.

When they arrived at the store, a young boy was walking out of it. He saw the cop car pulling up and rushed to his car. Booth parked, got out and ran to the boy to catch him just as he opened the door. Booth grabbed the boy and closed the door.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Derek Lawson," the boy answered.

"How old are you?"

"18."

"Why are you here?"

"Selling a gun."

"What gun?"

"A shot-gun." Derek answered. Booth looked at Brennan.

"Do you know a Kate Swanson?" he asked. Derek looked at Brennan and then back at Booth. Then he slipped out of Booth's grasp, and ran. "Stop or I'll shoot!" Booth yelled handing handcuffs to Brennan and aiming his gun at the boy. But Derek kept running until he tripped over his own feet. Booth ran and held him while Brennan put the handcuffs on him.

"You couldn't have shot him Booth." Brennan said.

"I know I was bluffing. I do that sometimes," Booth said, then returned his attention to the struggling Derek, "You have the right to remain silent.-" Booth began.

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"Kate?" Brennan said quietly, waking her up.

"What?" she asked, opening her eyes.

"We caught him."

"Derek? How?"

"Wait, how did you know it was him?"

"He's my only friend who knew how to shoot a gun and I knew one of my friends had to have done it otherwise I would be dead. Only friends would be sure to keep me out of harms way and kill the people who ruined my life."

"Oh. Why didn't you tell us?"

"I just figured it out. I fell asleep and in the dream I saw him killing my family. But when I woke up you were gone. I was waiting for you to return but I fell asleep. Did he say why he did it?"

"He said he did I for you. But now you have no place to live."

"Yes I do. Just go to sleep. I can take care of myself," Kate said and went back to sleep. Brennan smiled and went to bed herself.

When she woke up she looked at the couch. It was empty. She turned way and began to make breakfast.


End file.
